There is something about the season; there is an inexplicable feeling of joy you want to hit the air with your fist. Of course, where there is joy, there is a light and uplifting feeling.
There is quickening you want to do a thousand things at a time. There is a feeling of expectation which in cities is heightened when companies begin to shut down in the middle of unique month that is December. There is a longing in expectation of something that is unusual. It is Christmas. In the days of, not too old: I mean in the Days of Kingsway, in the Days of Leventis, of UTC, carols rent the air. There are glitters lining the streets and adorning buildings. They are mounted on trees also. This year you have Zenith Bank specially to thank. The carols are humbling; they are sobering.
There is joy sometimes overwhelmed with teary eyes. There is selling; there is buying. The streets are packed full with families going shopping. There is packing; there is unpacking in feverish travel preparations. There is the booking for flights. Vehicles are fixed in readiness to travel. Children filled with the Rays are wont to scale heights; they run but to nowhere in particular. It is the same Rays that envelope the children that hit the adults for different expectations. For adults it is expectation of blessings. For children it is a season of Father Christmas, a season of fun, singing and merry-making. The Day of the unique Grace for mankind is only five days away. There will be more Christmas lights and buntings as we move closer to the D-Day and come 24 December Noel will be louder, there will be singing; there will be dancing and rejoicing at the dawn of the Holy Night. Synagogues and Churches will be filled beyond capacity in thankfulness for the revelation of the Night to the shepherds on the field who were made clairaudient and clairvoyant to receive the tidings of the happening in the Cosmos.
However, the economic circumstances in most lands, compounded by insecurity and unending political imbroglio in Nigeria and the United States, and wars in Europe and the Middle East, will no doubt dampen the spirit of those living in terror every hour. The Supreme Court of Colorado, according to The New York Times, has ruled former President Donald Trump ineligible to contest next year Presidential election because of his role in the insurrection leading to the storming of Capitol Hall in 2021. Fortunately, in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, in the spirit of Yuletide and in recognition of the outcry in the land, has tried to ameliorate the pangs of the sufferings of the times. He has granted waivers to those travelling by bus or by rail. Travellers by bus are granted 50 per cent discount in fares and those by rail, it is free. Regardless of the state of the world, the Rays streaming down from the Highest Heights cannot be halted and will reach all who may have opened themselves for the Christmas blessings.
The story of Christmas and Holy Night is well known in all Christendom. It is the Night the Almighty Creator manifested His Love to mankind. Joyful as the occasion in all spheres of Creation was and the worshipful adoration the occasion yearly entails, many a man is yet to grasp the meaning of Christmas. To bring enlightenment to as many as may wish to know this meaning I have culled the following writing from A New Approach, a magazine for the dissemination of the New Knowledge for True Upbuilding. It is titled The Truth Behind Christmas, by C.W. Kingdon. It reads:
“As we are about to experience yet another Christmas and once more a few, a comparative few, both within and without the existing expressions of Christian belief, turn to a deeper contemplation of that great event in the shepherd’s hut in the fields near Bethlehem where the Christ Child was born.
“How many of us long for a really accurate and truthful account of that stupendous event, when now we are confronted with only two somewhat differing records in the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke, and no reference whatever to it in the Gospels of Mark and John.
“There were also the three wise men, who have been called magicians, seers and even kings. They must surely have been highly developed spiritually, with a degree of clarity and clairvoyance which enabled them to observe and be guided to follow the luminous star leading to the Christ Child in His Manger.
“And then, what happened? They presented rich gifts which could be used for the upbringing of the new-born babe and His mother—and departed into complete oblivion, as Matthew describes it: ‘And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.’
“But why did they depart at all? Was it not perhaps part of their mission that, with their spiritual and earthly power, they should have remained personally to protect and help the Child in His earthly development? Or did they themselves fear the wrath of Herod as to their own position and person? We do not know, but it savours of a lack of understanding.
“Then we also read in Matthew’s account of Joseph being warned in a dream to flee to Egypt while King Herod, in his rage at being tricked by the wise men. ‘Sent forth and slew all the children in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under.’ It is terrible to think that the birth of the Son of God was so closely accompanied by such a ghastly massacre of thousands of innocent children –if it really happened.
“Luke says nothing about this awful event at all, or about the flight to Egypt. For when the days of Mary’s purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to Jerusalem to ‘present Him to the Lord’—right into the enemy camp, so to say. And after the open testimony of Simeon and Prophetess Anna that Jesus was, indeed ‘the Lord Christ’, they took Him back to Nazareth where He grew up.
“It appears to be quite pointless to ponder with the intellect over the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, for to many such it is likely to remain a Book with Seven Seals. Do we not have to approach it in the humble and earnest manner of the seeker who is striving to develop himself spiritually, so that he can not only grasp the treasures it contains but also become aware of discrepancies and inaccuracies woven from interpretations of events that can arise when events and impressions are only recorded after decades, however sincere and diligent the writers may be?
“This misrepresentation applies to the whole of Christ’s Mission and Teaching on which enormous variety of Christian doctrines and beliefs are founded today, some of them in part obviously contrary to the Natural or Divine Laws, which are not difficult to elucidate and observe, even in our modern and sophisticated world. And what do we see today, a pathetic floundering about of those who now realise the great sin of separation and strive to achieve a new kind of unity, on non- spiritually conceived basis!
Finally, can we really accept the idea that the Creator would deliberately send into the world the Son of God so He should be murdered on the Cross, the very representation of Truth, in order to redeem men from their sins, and as some declare, absolve them from responsibility of having personally to atone for their own misdeeds? Where then is Divine Justice?
“On these and many other points in connection with Christ’s life and work we might do well to ponder deeply during Christmas-tide, when we are literally in the midst of the Final Judgment. Surely, all legends which, in the course of time, have been woven around Jesus must fall away, so that, at last, there would emerge a pure account of His Life as it was according to Divine Laws, which, indeed, could not have been otherwise in this Creation. It must come about.
“Every word uttered by the Son of God exposed the emptiness of hitherto existing doctrines, and the arrogance of their claim to leadership. With their power threatened, and seething with hatred, they only schemed how they could silence the Envoy of God they regarded as the troublesome admonisher. But even among those who honestly longed for the coming of the Messiah, many a one still passed Him unsuspecting, not being sufficiently alert, and in false expectation dreaming of a different fulfillment. Only a few were able to rise up to a divining of the greatness of the sacrifice that lay just in taking upon Himself the hardship and difficulties of an incarnation. Since also the Divine on earth is subject to the eternal and unchangeable Laws of God, It shows purely outwardly no striking difference from men.
“Coming from the Luminous Heights of Eternal Truth, in order through His Message to draw the human spirits’ attention to their wrong way of living, and to show them the only way leading upwards, the Son of God had no understanding for such futile, fleeting earthly desires as national pride, political influence or the craving for power. The political and priestly establishments feeling their power and influence threatened by the liberating Truth of Jesus conspired to get rid of Him”.
This is subject for deep and sober reflection on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of Christ Child, the Bringer of Eternal Truth, Who was lovingly accompanied by numerous Heavenly Hosts bowing and worshipping. It is not an occasion for mankind to get lost in revelry which has been the custom with mankind for hundreds of years.
Still on Christmas
MUCH troubling as the imbroglio in Rivers State is, I am resisting from being dragged into the fray of a crowd of political gladiators who are bereft of principles so that I can concentrate on my contemplation on what Christmas means to me. Where have I fallen short? Happy and reflective Christmas to all the readers of this Page. I thank all for their reactions.
